Chapter 6 TORTUGA OCTOBER 1675
They partied well into the night.
Flying Dutchman wasn't sure how much rum she consumed. She only knew it was a lot.
Being the young, innocent ship she was she knew nothing about the effects of alcohol on a ship's body.
Eagerly, she consumed any bottle in sight.
"Drink up me hearties yo ho!" She sang.
"Now you're thinkin' like a pirate, lass!" Carolina chortled, downing her own bottle and smashing it against the dock.
An outbreak of feminine swearing was heard from the pair of lasses sitting there.
Carolina merely shrugged it off and took out another bottle.
Flying Dutchman downed the last few drops of her own bottle. "You have another one?" She asked.
"Thought you'd never ask." Carolina replied, handing her the one she was going to open.
The sloop then pulled out a second, fresh bottle.
"Where do you hide those?" Flying Dutchman asked.
"Below decks. They're stored as cargo. Perfect place for them if you ask me." She grinned.
Flying Dutchman nodded. "Any chance I could load my own hold up?" She asked.
"Not unless you've got some booty to share." Carolina replied.
"Well next time I'm out, I'll see what I can find." Flying Dutchman replied.
"Just don't let Britannia know. And for goodness sakes stay away from British shipping." Carolina growled.
"As if I'd dare cross that line. I won't harm the Dutch either. But the French and Spanish better watch themselves." Flying Dutchman grinned.
"Now you're talking!" Carolina laughed. "Let me know when you find some and I'll bring you me rum. Do we have an accord?"
"Agreed." Flying Dutchman said. "Agreed." Carolina said.
They toasted on it. Carolina took a long swig.
Flying Dutchman copied her, deliberately drawing out her own drink a bit longer. Carolina noticed.
"Oh you don't want to do that lass." She said.
"Try me." Flying Dutchman said cockily, taking another swig.
"Ooh!" said a few ships nearby.
A mischievous light entered Carolina's eyes. "Challenge accepted." She said.
The pair downed one bottle after another, the whole time getting drunker and drunker and as they did, their tongues loosened.
"I remember a time, when I was a little thing, fresh out of the shipyards." Carolina began. "I was a naughty thing then and I am so now. The first thing I did was steel a whole man's purse."
"Really?" Flying Dutchman laughed.
"Really." Carolina agreed.
"But when the man found out, of course he was furious and of course he was going to the authorities. Next thing I know, Sir John Beckett showed up at my dock.
He said 'Carolina, I've heard from a good friend of mine that he lost his purse recently. You wouldn't happen to know where it is would you.'
I replied 'You already know the answer to that my good John because if you didn't you wouldn't be here.'
Then he ordered me to hand it over. I did but in addition to the coin I left him a nice parting gift."
"Oh?" Flying Dutchman asked.
"Aye, I left him a nice big fat seagull stuffed inside!" Carolina laughed.
They both broke down laughing.
"Oh god, that's too funny." Flying Dutchman gasped, taking a swig of her rum to calm herself down.
"One time, when I was still being built, the workman were painting over my hull with a fresh coat. It was about 2 weeks before the launch. I was feeling cocky so I set a trap for the men and by the end of the day, they all went home to their wives and mothers covered in gold and blue."
"Oh gods, that is too funny!" Carolina laughed.
"Aye." Flying Dutchman agreed, causing the sloop to burst into laughter again.
"What?" Flying Dutchman demanded.
"You. The way you say that word." Carolina giggled.
"Aye?" Flying Dutchman muttered.
Carolina burst into laughter again. "Oh gods, Dutchman. You're killing me here." She said.
Dutchman merely shrugged and downed the remainder of her bottle.
"I guess I pass this round. Ready for another." She asked.
Carolina grinned. "Oh bring it!" She replied.
The two continued on in there silly drinking contest.
Though Carolina was smaller, she was a rum soaked pirate and so her tolerance for the stuff was higher.
But Flying Dutchman was larger than her and so the two seemed about even.
Until, that is, Dutchman got the upper hand by downing two bottles at once.
Carolina tried to follow but the sudden rush of rum broke what was already a fraying tolerance and she collapsed, passed out drunk.
Flying Dutchman shrugged indifferently, the rum having gone straight to her head.
"I guess I win then." She said and finished off her bottle.
Flying Dutchman groaned as she stared at the bow shaped mark she made on the dock.
Then she turned her gaze upwards to the culprit of said mark.
"Vandecker, what was that for?" She asked.
"Time to go, Shadow." He replied.
She groaned. "It's still early. Leave me be." She whined and curled back up to sleep.
Sighing, Vandecker slammed the two cook's pots in his hand together and they made a loud clang.
"Wha-whazzit?" Carolina murmured at her dock before passing out again.
Flying Dutchman however, leaped up in surprise, again slamming her head into the dock.
"Ugh! Vandecker, please!" She begged.
"Please me nothing!" Vandecker growled. "You can sleep it off when we get back to the Locker. Britannia's waiting for us."
Scowling, Flying Dutchman reluctantly agreed, allowing her captain to come up the gangplank before her lines were cast and away she went.
Once Tortuga had vanished from her view, she focused her gaze on the rising sun.
Again, the pull of the cosmos was strong, merely opposite this time.
Now it was the moon handing the sky back into the sun's care for the day.
Flying Dutchman was trying hard but she found it hard to focus, feeling queezy each time she tried.
"Come on girl, we don't have much time." Vandecker encouraged.
With a groan, Flying Dutchman finally managed to draw enough strength to fire the green blast.
If she thought the portal was bad enough sober, she had never known what it could be like on a hangover.
"Ugh!" She moaned.
She saw Britannia racing towards her. "There you are. I was beginning to worry." She said.
"Sorry." Flying Dutchman grunted.
Britannia's blue eyes turned concerned as she swept her apprentice with her gaze.
"You alright, Dutchman? You look a bit green." She said.
"That's an understatement." Flying Dutchman moaned, shutting her eyes tightly against the sun. The light hurt.
"Dutchman.." Britannia began only to jump back a second later, missing her apprentice's well aimed spew of rum filled vomit by a mere few inches.
"Here!" She said, brandishing a bucket out of seemingly nowhere. "Watch your aim."
She led Flying Dutchman back to their berth, setting the bucket down in front of her on the dock.
The fluyt moaned, then threw up noisily into it.
"Ugh, my head..." She moaned.
"Serves you right." Britannia scolded.
"You should've known better than to consume that much alcohol. And on your first time too. Although..." Her tone turned teasing.
"Anyone who can out drink Carolina deserves the day off in my book."
"You know about that?" Flying Dutchman asked, raising her head to meet her mentor's gaze.
"Aye, I was there the whole time. I only left about an hour before you did." Britannia replied.
"Oh." Flying Dutchman said and threw up again.
Britannia sighed. "Now that you know what happens when you overdo it, what are we not going to do again?" She asked.
"I'm never going near rum again!" Flying Dutchman moaned.
Britannia laughed. "That's impossible, love." She replied. "No ship can avoid man's favorite drink."
Flying Dutchman said nothing, she merely threw up in the bucket again.